Revitalists use social platforms to share Indigenous language learning with a new generation
TikTok, Instagram and YouTube make it easy to spread their knowledge
Novalee Fox, Willis Janvier and Samson LaMontagne have turned to social media to share their passion for Indigenous language learning with the younger generation.
Novalee Fox: Cree language revitalization
Novalee Fox is an Indigenous content creator from Ochapowace First Nation, who makes content to promote a healthy way of living, and Cree language revitalization.
"When I was a little girl, my chapans [great-grandparents] passed away when they were like 90 years old, but they always spoke to me nothing but Cree from zero to four years old," she said. "I was around Cree-speaking my whole life."
Although she grew up around Cree and could speak the language a little, Fox says couldn't understand the stories that were being told, which always bothered her.
When she graduated from high school, she attended post-secondary at the Regina campus of First Nations University of Canada, where she started taking Cree classes.
However, her language reclamation path didn't start until she was on a healing journey.
Fox says she attended a treatment centre in Montreal Lake Cree Nation, where she stayed for four months dealing with drug and alcohol abuse.
"My mental health therapist was fluent Cree, my elder was fluent Cree and also my [Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program Worker] was fluent Cree, so we conversed back and forth in Cree," she said. "You can read and write Cree, but if you're not actually speaking with those kêtayak, those old people, you're not going to understand."
About a year and a half ago, Fox says, she began using the TikTok app and saw there were lots of fluent Cree speakers out there, inspiring her to create her own content
"I was like, 'uhhh, I wanna do this too,'" she said. "I only speak a little bit, but I was practising back and forth with these people and my audience got bigger and I talked about healing and living that good life."
She says social media was a way for her to connect with the younger generation, and has been a powerful tool in language revitalization.
"I can tell I'm reaching young people, even just in my community. They'll come up to me and we'll say funny words in Cree and we'll converse a little bit. It's a bit broken, but at least they're speaking Cree," she said.
Fox says she is beginning to see the impact her content is having on the young people.
WATCH | How social media is helping revitalize this Indigenous language:
"I remember my kohkoms [grandmothers] and my chapans always saying to speak as much Cree as you can, even if you make a mistake, keep speaking because we can't, we can't let those old colonial systems and assimilation policies win," she said.
"Our language is beautiful. It's not evil, it's beautiful, so I feel awesome when I see the kids in my community are online trying to speak because it can happen."
Fox has a bit of advice for youth just beginning to learn the language.
"It's not your fault that you lost your language, but you're going to help bring it back. We deal with those negative energies online, but you just gotta kiyâm, just let it be and let it go, and âhkamêyimow, don't give up."
Willis Janvier: Podcast in Dene a big success
Willis Janvier, a Dene speaker from Wood Buffalo Dene Nation in northern Saskatchewan, creates content on all social media platforms.
"The foundation of who I am is Dene — Dene language and where I come from,"Janvier said .
Janvier started sharing the Dene language on his podcast Dene Yati (Dene language/ Dene Speaking) five years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now he emcees events, does motivational speaking and works as a sportscaster in his native language.
"I've wanted to quit many times," he said. "In the beginning I wanted it to work so bad. I could see that people were entertained by some of the content that I was putting out, you know, and I didn't want to fail. I don't like to fail, and I don't like to quit."
Janvier said he uses social media to gain information and as a tool for developing his content.
"It's been a good way to reach a lot of people," he said. "When I'm consistent with the content, you know, I reach hundreds of thousands of people, and then if I need a break, it gets less, but I don't let those numbers bother me anymore.
"As long as somebody is learning from it, in a positive way," he said, that is what matters.
There have been many times when he has felt like quitting, but he would get emails from strangers telling him how his content had inspired them.
"A young lady from northern Saskatchewan said [she] was in foster care, thank you for your podcast, I'm trying to find my language," he said.
Another message of thanks came from a residential school survivor, and another from a linguist from Russia who reached out to tell him that the language was beautiful.
"When we look at language as important as a degree, imagine how many fluent speakers there will be," Janvier said. "If we value our languages as much as a degree, just imagine how fluent we would be in all areas."
Samson LaMontagne: Spreading the word in Michif
Samson LaMontagne, a school teacher at Georges Vanier Catholic Fine Arts School in Saskatoon, is Métis from Regina. His family is from the Red River and the valley of Lebret.
He is also a Michif language learner who shares that language with others through social platforms including Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
LaMontagne grew up speaking French and had French immersion throughout his grade school years, and took some French courses at university. However, it wasn't until he went back to school for his second degree that he began to learn more about his Indigenous language, Michif.
"After I graduated from the kinesiology program at [University of Saskatchewan], I went back to school for my second degree as a teacher at Suntep [Saskatchewan Urban Native Teacher Education Program]," LaMontagne said.
At Gabriel Dumont Institute, a school for Métis, he began to learn more about the Michif language.
"We never really heard about it or heard it being spoken, but we heard that some Métis people spoke that language," he said.
LaMontagne was able to begin learning the language from a Métis Elder and Michif speaker Norman Fleury, .
"The very first class I took was while I was still at university. They had a community class, which was one class a week for an hour," he said. "It was 100 bucks. You know, I was a struggling student, but I knew it was really important.
"I'm really passionate about it," LaMontagne said. "Even though I've been learning it for 10 years, I still have that hunger and desire to learn more and more and more because I have a long way to go before I would be even considered a fluent speaker."
LaMontagne started sharing Michif on social platforms during the pandemic as a way for him to stay connected with his students, and to teach them and others the language. He says the increased accessibility was important.
"I was taught: God, our creator gave us the Michif language and so I don't own it, so I want to share with everyone. I want as many people out there to learn Michif and to use it," he said.
"So that's why I really love social media because our old ones, our knowledge keepers, our language keepers, they always say we gotta connect with the youth and we gotta be where the youth are."
LaMontagne says as long as he can make his content fun and easy to learn, the youth are going to pick it up, too.
"I think what people need to do is to believe in themselves, even though they're, you know, their language journey might just be starting. You gotta believe that you can do it and then it can happen."
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